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The UK was named as the country with the best business environment in Europe in the Legatum Prosperity Index, whilst maintaining its position of 10th in the overall prosperity rankings (Mail, November 2017, link).

As Change Britain supporter Andrea Jenkyns said: ‘These findings are yet more evidence that the Project Fear of the Remain campaign was pure scaremongering’

It’s clear that the UK remains an attractive place to invest and do business. There’s no doubt that the UK has a prosperous future outside the EU

Indeed, a report from venture capital firm Atomico has found that the UK remains the top country in Europe for innovative technology startups, with $5.4bn being invested in UK tech companies in 2017, more than the double that of Germany (CityAM, November 2017, link)

On top of this, a further report published today by HubSpot - a US-based marketing firm - has found that European businesses and workers overwhelmingly view London as the continent’s start-up and innovation hub (Industry Today, November 2017, link).

Carney: Opportunities for City outside EU

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has said that Brexit will allow the UK to create a regulatory system which suits Britain's financial services industry (Telegraph, November 2017, link).

Mr Carney stated that there are aspects of EU regulation which ‘we don’t think are necessary’, but stressed that any changes would maintain the ‘overall levels of resilience’ in order to keep the financial system safe.

The Bank’s Governor also suggested that the UK might expand its financial sector from 10 times GDP to between 15 and 20 times during the next few decades. This counters those who claim that the City will suffer as a result of Brexit - in fact, it will continue to grow and strengthen.

Britain is committed to European defence and security

It’s disappointing that Michel Barnier has suggested the UK is turning its back on security cooperation with the EU (Times, November 2017, link).

This language is very unhelpful - given the crucial stage of the negotiations - and is completely misleading.

In September, the Prime MInister committed to ‘unconditional’ support for defence across Europe. Many EU countries rely on the UK’s counter-terrorist and security intelligence to help keep their citizens safe. Furthermore, the UK is one of the only countries in Europe which meets its 2% defence spending target.

Barnier’s suggestions that the UK will leave Europol should not be overblown. In 2015 the Danish people voted not to opt-in to justice and home affairs measures which meant they’re not a member of Europol, however in 2017 Denmark and the European Commission agreed a deal which gave Denmark a ‘unique status which will allow for much closer ties with Europol’ (European Commission, April 2017, link).

Indeed Richard Walton, the former head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command has said that ‘Brexit will have little, if any, impact on UK counter-terrorism operations, even if it ceases to become a formal member of Europol’ (Daily Mail, May 2017, link).

Instead of trying to reverse the result, politicians should work to get the best deal

The four MSPs who are planning to ask the European Court of Justice if the Brexit process can be stopped should respect the result of last year’s referendum (Guardian, November 2017, link)

The UK as one voted to leave the EU, and as one UK we will leave. It is arrogant for a handful of politicians who can’t accept the Brexit result to think that their views are more important than the 17.4 million people who voted to take back control.

It should be noted that a similar legal challenge in Ireland was struck out by the Irish High Court earlier this year (Financial Times, May 2017, link).

Politicians of all parties should work together to get the best deal for Britain, instead of trying every trick in the book to reverse the result.